And The Catastrophic Award Goes To

Both the parent and the teacher. FAIL. I would NEVER advocate doing something this ugly to a child.

Christina Valdez said her daughter, Cassandra Garcia, came home one day from class at Desert Springs Academy in Tucson, Ariz., with the paper award.

The document, which looks like a colorful card, contained the following message: “You’re Tops! Catastrophe Award. Awarded to Cassandra Garcia. For Most Excuses for Not Having Homework.”

The teacher signed the card “Ms. Plowman,” added the date – May 18, 2012 – and even included a smiley face.

The teacher announced the award in front of the entire class, and the other students laughed at her daughter, Valdez said in a Thursday interview with ABC TV affiliate KGUN-TV in Tucson.

When she contacted the school to complain, the principal “blew me off,” Valdez added. “She said it was a joke that was played and that the teachers joke around with the children.”

But Valdez told KGUN that she didn’t find any of it funny.

“I think it’s cruel and no child should be given an award like this. It’s disturbing,” she said, adding that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program.

It really is quite insensitive. On the other hand, how many parent teacher conferences did this woman attend to talk about this problem? Obviously, oblivious to the problem…none. As for the school employees? They need to grow up. It’s no wonder education is viewed as a joke today.

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6 Responses to “And The Catastrophic Award Goes To”

Actually, considering the current practice of giving out awards and prizes to children for pretty much everything (for achievements like 5th place in a race, or finishing a race, or starting a race, or promising to participate in a race), I think it is necessary to finally recognize a less-than-honorable work with a less-than-honorable award. So, thumbs up to the teacher from me.
The parent should share the award, by the way. The daughter is obviously learning the fine craft of excuse-making from her mother.

Yes, I know that when I pulled my kid out of public school it was because I was so disgusted with an awards ceremony that took 3 hours (no kidding) to ensure that everyone who was breathing got a certificate.

I was one of the first members of the American Federation of Teachers, its second year of existence coinciding with my first year teaching. Then I began to see the kinds of totally lazy, incompetent, immoral, foul-mouthed, stupid, and, several times, psychotic teachers it was defending, keeping them in the system where they damaged students and education itself. Then I became an ex-union member. Organized abusiveness is not my thing.